OT: Quotes from the 1979 Pirates...
- Thread starter HOF Coach
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That friggin team was huge. In this day and age of the supersized athlete, man, there were some really big boys on that team. Candy was like 6'7" 250lbs. Jim Bibby was 6'6" and over 250. Parker probably was 6'5" 230. Stargell was probably 6'3" 240. Donnie Robinson was about the same size as Stargell. Ed Ott was an all star wrestler in high school. That was a bad ass team.
Also, I found the pictures of me taken with Stargell, Parker, and Omar Moreno before the game that I got to be on the field and in the dugout during batting practice with all the guys before a game.
One of my most vivid memories from that season (I'm sure it was that season) was when the Mets' Felix Millan took exception to a hard slide Ott made into second, so he took a swing at Ott with the ball still in his hand. Ott grabbed Millan and body-slammed him into the infield dirt. The resulting shoulder injury effectively ended Millan's career.
There is a game on YouTube that was right after that incident. The announcers (Pitate crew) were discussing what the league was going to do about it. They made it sound like it was a big deal even by 79' standards. Did he get suspended? They were saying that he was a super nice guy but well known to be the last person that anyone in the league would mess with even to the point that nobody ever charged a mound with him catching. Even Dave Winfield wanted no part of him once.
Do you realize how hard it is to pull off wearing that hat. As a man I mean. Only the cobra can do it.
I was at that game sitting behind third base. It was the quickest fight I ever saw. Ott slid in. Milan confronted him and Ott slammed him. It was immediately obvious that Millan was in a world of hurt when everyone immediately stopped in their tracks and everything got quiet. Not sure of the exact year. Could have been 79.
Edit: the article above says August of 77.
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As if he started it. All he did was execute a play that had been baseball routine for a century.
He was great when I got to pose with a picture with him and sign an autograph for me. I was 13 years old, and they still had the Marlboro Man ads in the programs, and I can still remember Ed Ott's words to me in signing the autograph. He signed on the back page, on the Marlboro Man, in the white cowboy hat. He said, "I will sign here in the white hat, for the good guys!"
Still remember that like it was yesterday.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-08-sp-1457-story,amp.html
Ed Ott slapped a choke hold on Rob Dibble when he was a coach with the Astros. Ed had some cajones.
Ed Ott slapped a choke hold on Rob Dibble when he was a coach with the Astros. Ed had some cajones.
In retrospect it would appear that Millan made a bad choice when he punched Ott in the head with the baseball.
The "Nasty Boy" had to reigned in once in a while.
Question: What did shortstop Dale Berra and pop star Michael Jackson have in common?
Answer: They both wore a glove on their left hand for no apparent reason.
The apple didn't fall far from the tree.
Thanks for the article, Joe. Read it all and definitely brought back memories.
I was there, too. Millan hit Ott in the face with a baseball, and Ott planted him. Baseball justice. Bucs swept the doubleheader.
Jerk??!! That’s what Milan got for shoving the baseball in Ott’s mouth.
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